Healthy and Affordable Meal Prep Tips to Better Plan Your Week

But this doesn't have to be the whole story— you don't have to spend hours making healthy meals. You can get around this obstacle by being smart about your cooking. 

How? Well, we'll show you. 

Plan Your Meals

The key to making sure you eat according to your pocket and still eat healthy food is to plan your meals. That way, you'll have a clear idea of what you want to eat, and you'll be able to mix and match different recipes over the week. For example, you could make a bunch of rice and vegetables on Sunday and then throw them together very quickly at any point during the week. That way, you would have made a meal that can easily be prepared, costing you very little money. 

Always Stick To Your Grocery List

Once you've made a list of things to buy at the grocery store, you should stick to that list. It's very easy to get sidetracked at the grocery store, and when that happens, you tend to buy a lot more than you need and a lot more than your wallet can buy.  The best way to avoid this problem is to make sure that you stick to what is on the list and make sure you make no detours inside the grocery store. As a rule, try to shop the store's perimeter first, as this will make you more likely to fill your cart with whole foods.

Plan Your Meals Around Foods That Are On Sale

This tip isn't useful for people who don't have the time to cook alone. It's also useful for people who want to save some money on food. At every given point, there are always foods on sale. A great way to save a few bucks is to plan your meal around those items. That will save you a lot more money, as those stores will be willing to sell the meals at absolutely unbelievable prices. 

Leftovers Are God's Gift

A lot of people throw out leftovers. If you're one of those people, you should stop that right now. You may think that the best way to deal with leftovers is to make food that you can finish in one sitting, but that isn't necessarily true. You should plan your meals around leftovers if you can, as that will save you a lot of time and money.  For example, if you are cooking roast chicken with vegetables and rice on Sunday night's dinner, plan to put together a chicken sandwich the next morning. You could even use the bones to make chicken soup on Tuesday. That way, you won't have to make a chicken from scratch. 

Make Extras

If you haven't tapped into the sweet sense behind making extras, you should right now. Don't let a big batch of chicken, carrots, or even celery go to waste. Use it to make an extra-large pot of soup. After serving one batch for immediate consumption, freeze the rest and microwave them when you want to eat. Do this for as long as you can. If you get this hacked, you may only have to cook once a week. 

Fruits Are A Cheat code

Fruits are great because a lot of them come ready to eat. You don't have to cook oranges, mangos, or grapes— and they are all very healthy fruits. You could make smoothie bags with these fruits and vegetables and freeze them for later use. For example, the contents of any of these smoothie bags could be made into one delicious drink at a moment's notice.